I now have no excuse not to post at least 3 times per week.
In light of recent events, and the fact that my friend,
Julie promises to read my blog, I think I'll give this thing another go.
Recent events:
Sunday I was playing the basketball of my life! Daniel recently started a weekly bball pick-up game with medical staff and corpsmen at the gym. I started joining in a few weeks ago and was having a blast. I loved playing basketball with my brothers growing up. I played in Middle School and High School, but definitely summer camp and weekend coed games were more fun than competitive high school play. It's funny looking back on this weekend b/c I even had a really cheesy moment Sunday morning before we went to the gym thanking Daniel for re-introducing me to playing basketball for fun.
I even splurged on some awesome new basketball shoes b/c I tried playing one game in my running shoes and irritated my plantar fascia in my Right foot. Pretty common issue.
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| Not a great picture, but they're pretty snazzy. |
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| Plantar Fascia runs along the bottom of your heel and attaches to your achilles... |
So there I was with some great assists, left-handed put-backs, making a couple "And 1" shots and then POP! In the fourth game I was getting ready to run back the court when I felt someone punch my achilles. I didn't know all the people I was playing with, but I was pretty sure that none of the guys would go so far as to chase my heels around and punch me. I fell over, tried to stifle my urge to cry and when Daniel helped me up to hobble off the court I couldn't feel my heel to put weight on it. It's the craziest feeling! Dr. Dan elevated my foot, grabbed ice, and then Don, another doc, took me to the car.
Talk about bad timing, we had planned to have a few people over to watch the Oscars and celebrate Daniel's birthday since it's in a week. I luckily have great friends that when they hear the word 'party' then instantly start thinking of what they will bring to the party. What happened to the good ol' days when people could just show up without feeling compelled to bring things?! I was happy to have their food b/c Daniel was busy calling the Sports Medicine doc and tried to figure out what was going on with my food.
Daniel, I think, was starting to realize that it was not a minor injury. I've rolled my ankle before and I knew for a fact there was no roll. I never felt it roll, just KAPOW! and then this strange release and numbness. At home Daniel did the telltale test for ruptured achilles, the Thompson test. If you lay on your stomach with your knees at 90 degrees, when someone squeezes your calf, your foot should flip. There was no flip in my foot. DARN IT!!
Monday I went to the hospital and got the bad news. Completely ruptured achilles. Strangely, and thankfully, if you completely rupture your achilles it's not as painful as a partial tear. And truly, except for the first couple hours after it happened, it didn't really hurt! The worst part was hopping around on my right foot that I had been favoring for the last 3 weeks b/c of my plantar fascia irritation. If anything, I expected to injure my right foot, not the left. I got a temporary cast and was scheduled for surgery the next day. Dr. Maurer did my surgery. My best friend's maiden name is Maurer, so that felt like a sold choice and Dr. Maurer went to Duke. They're no KU, but still an acceptable, I guess.
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| Yes, purple-painted toes...much cuter when my foot was not horrendously swollen. |
This is a pretty long post considering I usually don't write much. But this was a big deal! I've never broken anything or had surgery! I remained pretty calm the night before. Only cried a few nervous tears.
In the morning, my great friend, Candace, and her daughter Laekyn picked me up to take me to the hospital. Daniel had to leave for work at 5:45am and luckily was going to be able to hang out with me while I was getting prepped for surgery. He kept distracted by working while I was having surgery and then took me home that night.
Surgery was pretty smooth, once it got going. I elected initially to have regional anesthesia so I got a shot in my back. It didn't take the way it was supposed to though, so we had to go with plan B- general anesthesia. I started to get a little emotional as they put the gas mask on and then ZONK. I was out. When I came to, one of my husband's staff doc's wife was there. I know Julie S. from our naval spouse lunch group and it was so nice to hear a familiar voice and see a friendly familiar face immediately. I was hoping she was working that day. So the rest is pretty simple. Wait for the feeling to come back in my legs, take some pain meds and go home and rest.
Oh, and Dawn Setter, another great friend, dropped off dinner for Daniel and I. Oh my gosh. It was so tasty! Enchiladas that somehow reminded me of good ol' Chef Boyardee Ravioli. I hope that's not taken as an insult to her cooking if she reads this...b/c I thought it was unbelievably tasty. The ultimate comfort food!
Yesterday Libby Pike brought her daughters over (AND LUNCH!) and hung out with me. Or rather, she cleaned up the house from our Sunday evening get-together. Amazing. She unloaded two loads of dishes, and essentially washed everything else. I had to practically beg her to not do laundry or she would have the whole house back in order. I'm so grateful for her helpful heart. It meant a lot to me and Daniel to have someone help out. Sarah also kept me company while mommy was cleaning.
I'll add more exciting posts as my ankle starts to heal. My mom comes in town today to help and I can't wait to see her. She was thinking about coming to visit some time soon, just not THIS soon.
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| My home base for the next few days. Couch, pillows, Snuggie and 4 more seasons of The Wire to watch. Hooray! |
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| Cards from friends and flowers from my wonderful Mother-in-law, Cindy! |
